The primary goal of the Hospital Food Service (Dietary) Department is to provide high quality, nutritious meals for patients with the funds allotted. To achieve this goal, each food purchasing decision must include serious consideration of food cost, nutrient value, and quality. Since the cost of labor for this department is increasing, professionals are reexamining conventional methods and considering the recently developed food products and systems. One very popular trend is the use of convenience foods, the rationale being that certain preliminary work can be done by manufacturers, and a reduction in the labor cost will result. Foods in partially or fully prepared states are filling the wholesale markets and providing more variety of selection than ever before. It is now doubtful that any patient menu is devoid of such products; their advantanges are undenizble. And yet, the extent to which pre-processed foods are used for patients, and their relative contribution to nutrition care, are unkown. This research is designed to describe the market forms in which selected patient menu items are purchased in hospitals; to determine if differences exist across market forms in food cost, nutrient value, and quality; and to seek the relationship of nutrient value and quality to food cost. The first objective will occur as a preliminary survey of New York City hospitals. Three menu items which are found to be frequently offered and purchased in a wide variety of market forms will be studied. For each menu item, the exact products, or brands, that are purchased in the hospitals will be secured and produced in the food laboratory at New York University. Food cost per portion will be assessed by dividing the vendor's base prices for all ingredients by the number of standard portions yielded. Nutrient value will be determined for foods in the "as delivered" and "as prepared" states according to methods recommended by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Quality be evaluated by sensory panels of trained judges guide by the standards of the American Society for Testing Materials. This application for funding is for the second and third objectives of the study, specifically, the determination of cost, nutrient value, and quality and investigation of the relationships among these variables.